Shakespeare and Contemporary Theory

If it’s been a little quiet on the podcast front, it’s because the last year has been a tremendously busy one for me. As well as getting married (I’m just back from honeymoon), here’s what I’ve been up to: I completed my new book, Shakespeare’s Moral Compass, which is due out on 30th September. Find it […]

What would Hamlet be like if we didn’t already know what was going to happen? What would the play look like if we only knew what Hamlet knew? Neema talks to Amir Khan (Missouri State University) whose book Shakespeare in Hindsight: Counterfactual Thinking and Shakespearean Tragedy helps us think about exactly these sorts of questions. […]

Neema talks to James A. Knapp (Loyola University Chicago) about Shakespeare, Character and Morality. Topics include: the motivations of literary characters, emotions and human nature, ethics, and political bubbles. Knapp’s essay “Beyond Materiality in Shakespeare Studies” (2014): http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/lic3.12177/abstract

My first book, Shakespeare’s History Plays: Rethinking Historicism (2012), is now available through Open Access: http://www.oapen.org/search?identifier=625259 I’ve always liked the front cover of this one. It’s a sketch of the skull of Richard II made in 1871. I’d love to say there’s some deeper meaning behind it, but in all honesty, I just thought it […]

Neema welcomes Jeffrey R. Wilson (Harvard) to discuss the election of Donald Trump, its impact on the intellectual climate, and some of the ways in which Shakespeare was used in the coverage of the US election. Wilson’s essay, “Public Shakespeareanism: The Bard in the 2016 American Presidential Election,” is available upon request from the author; […]

Neema interviews Michael D. Bristol (McGill) about a wide range of topics including: Mikhail Bakhtin, LC Knights’s famous attack on A.C. Bradley “How Many Children Had Lady Macbeth?”, the importance of character to Shakespeare criticism, is Shakespeare a philosopher?, moral agency and much more.